BP to set up $100m advanced materials research centre

07 August 2012 16:33[Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--BP plans to set up a $100m (€81m) international research centre for advanced materials, the UK-based energy and chemicals firm said on Tuesday.

The centre will be established within the University of Manchester’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, but the 10-year programme will also involve researchers at the ?xml:namespace>University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, BP said.

The investment programme is expected to support 25 new academic posts, along with 100 post-graduate researchers and 80 post-doctoral fellows, the company added.

“Advanced materials and coatings will be vital in finding, producing and processing energy safely and efficiently in the years ahead, as energy producers work at unprecedented depths, pressures and temperatures, and as refineries, manufacturing plants and pipeline operators seek ever better ways to combat corrosion and deploy new materials to improve their operations,” said BP CEO Bob Dudley.